Nothing Else Matters
by The Postmodern Prometheus
Summary: Will Johnson is a new student trying desperately to fit in at Hogwarts, that is until he meets Autumn. Can Will overcome all the obstacles in the way of their happiness and still find a place for himself at Wizard's School?
1. A Chance Meeting

Will Johnson was lonely. It was his first day at Hogwarts and he hadn't made any friends yet. He still felt intensely nervous about the whole thing, wishing he could go home already. As he walked through the castle, traversing its various corridors until he emerged into bright sunlight, he wondered how the Sorting Hat had ever placed him in Gryffindor House. He didn't belong here, until a few weeks ago he had never even heard of Wizard's School. Then he'd got his letter - the only person with magical ability in a whole family of muggles, and now they expected so much of him, how could he possibly ever live up to that? He made his way down towards the lake, feeling very sorry for himself.  
  
As he approached the lake he saw a girl sitting on one of the rocks. She was lounging by the water, enjoying the sun, her T-shirt laying loosely on her thin waist, her attractive face turned towards the sky, bathed in sunlight. As Will approached her, wondering whether he should try to talk to her, she suddenly turned her head towards him and looked at him, smiling warmly. "Ummm. hey there," she said, slightly nervously.  
  
Will hesitated, then continued to approach her, but nervously, because she is a very nice looking girl and he wondered why she would ever want to talk to him. "Errr. hey,' he managed to stammer in return, his heart jumping. "I'm Will," he added, feeling himself start to turn red. He was never very good at talking to girls.  
  
The girl looked him up and down, still smiling at him. "I'm Autumn," she said eventually, "you must be new, I haven't seen you around before." She turned around on the rock she was sitting on so she was facing him, moving over slightly so he could sit down if he wanted to. "Are you ok - you look a bit preoccupied?" she asked.  
  
Will smiled at her in return. There was something about her that he liked immediately, even thought they had only just met. He moved to sit next to her. "Yeah I just got here today," he replied as he sat down, "my parents decided to send me to Wizards's school after I got my letter, so here I am. The thing is I know nothing about magic - I bet I'll fail all my classes" he added glumly.  
  
Autumn still smiled at him - she couldn't help but smile at his sweet face. "I'm sure you won't Will," she said reassuringly, "you look like a smart man. You should give yourself more credit, everyone finds it difficult at first, but I'm sure you'll cope. Don't feel bad, I'm not too good at magic either, so if you fail, the chances are I'll fail with you."  
  
When she said this Will couldn't help but feel better. There was something about her smile that lifted his spirits completely, he couldn't feel sad any more. "Maybe you're right," he said, "I guess I just need to time to settle in." He continued to smile at her, and his gaze fell on the Weezer T- shirt that she was wearing. "You like Weezer!" he exclaimed - "that's my favourite band!"  
  
Autumn laughed a little. "Yeah I love Weezer," she replied, "I've loved them since I was 10. Everyone thought that I was a dork for liking them."  
  
"Well I don't think you're a dork," replied Will. He was now sitting next to her on the rock. "So what house are you in? The Sorting Hat put me in Gryffindor, but I dunno why. I don't think I fit in anywhere here."  
  
"I'm in Ravenclaw," Autumn replied, turning to look at him, "but it sucks because all my friends are either in Gryffindor or Slytherin." She smiled at him a little. "You fit in Gryffindor Will, you have the courage and bravery. Most of all though, you're a nice guy."  
  
"Thank you so much," Will said, looking a little embarrassed. "I wish everyone at Hogwarts was as friendly as you." He thought back to the timetable he had been give that morning, trying to remember whether he had any lessons with Ravenclaw. "If you're in Ravenclaw," he said, remembering suddenly, "then I think we have Potions together."  
  
Autumn scowled. "Ugh, I don't wanna face Snape, I suck at Potions."  
  
"I haven't met any of the teachers yet - what are they like?" Will asked eagerly. He hoped that they were nicer than the ones at his previous school.  
  
"Well," said Autumn thoughtfully, "Snape's head of Slytherin House, and you never want to get on the wrong side of him, especially being in Gryffindor. McGonagall is the Transfiguration teacher - she's strict but she's ok. Most of the other teachers are fine, just make sure you watch out for Snape."  
  
"Thanks for the advice. Listen," he continued slightly nervously, "can you do me a favour. Since it's my first day and you're the only person I know here do you think you could show me around a bit, just so I know where all the different classrooms and stuff like that are?"  
  
Autumn looked at him with interest. "Yes of course, I'd love to." She said after a few seconds, smiling at him. She glanced at her watch. "Umm. dinner is going to be served in the Great Hall in a few minutes. If you like, I can show you afterwards."  
  
"Uh, yeah that sounds great, thank you" said Will, relieved. "Well I'd better get back to my house before dinner - I'll see you later Autumn."  
  
"See you later Will."  
  
He got up and headed back towards the castle, leaving Autumn sitting by the lake. He was glad that he had finally made a friend on his first day at Hogwarts. Autumn seemed really nice, he liked her a lot. He hurried back to the Gryffindor common room, hoping to find somebody there from his year who he could go to dinner with. 


	2. Voices in the Dark

Will thought about Autumn a lot during dinner - he couldn't seem to get her out of his head. Afterwards as he was leaving the Great Hall he saw her standing waiting for him. He smiled and began to walk over to her. She smiled back when she saw him. "Hello Will, how was your dinner?" she asked.  
  
"It was ok, you?" Will replied as he reached her. They stood under the arch at one end of the Great Hall.  
  
"Good. Ok, hurry and follow me," she said abruptly, turning and quickly walking out of the Great Hall, taking one of the corridors and hurrying down it.  
  
"Uh, sure," replied Will, trailing along behind her, slightly surprised at this sudden departure. He followed Autumn as she led him through the corridors of Hogwarts, no idea where they were or where they were headed to. "Where are we going Autumn?" he asked her.  
  
Autumn stopped somewhere along the Transfiguration hallway. "Sorry, you see..." she said, turning around to face him, "we aren't allowed to be out after midnight, it's against school rules, but we're gonna break the rules just this time..." She laughed a little.  
  
Will laughed as well. "So what are we doing here?" he asked.  
  
"I'm gonna show you around the castle," she said, beginning to lead him further down the corridor. "Right, now on your left, that door leads to the Transfiguration classroom."  
  
Will looked to where Autumn was pointing. "Ok, and what's that down there?" he said, pointing to the far end of the hallway. Autumn walked over to where he was pointing, and pressed a particular brick on the wall, making a secret passage slide open.  
  
"Wow, a secret passage, I heard about these!" said Will excitedly, "apparently they're all over the castle. Where does it lead?" he asked.  
  
"Follow me" she said, entering the passage. They followed the tunnel for about a minute, emerging abruptly into another corridor, in the Slytherin area of the castle. "To you left is the Potions classroom," she informed him, "this is the easiest and fastest way get to Potions."  
  
"You know this is kinda exciting to be breaking school rules like this, sneaking around the castle after dark, don't you think?" Will said, a little breathlessly.  
  
Autumn grinned at him. "Yes it is - I've been doing this for ages. It's about the only real entertainment there is."  
  
"Cool, so who do you usually sneak out with," Will asked, "don't tell me you wander around the castle at night on your own."  
  
Autumn looked slightly worried for a second. "Oh, I usually sneak out with my friend Anna," she said quickly, "she's in her dorm studying tonight..." but Will interrupted her before she could finish.  
  
"Shhh... did you hear something?" he listened intently. "I thought I heard footsteps, over there down that corridor." They both stood there in the dark listening. Slowly they both heard the sound of footsteps growing louder - someone was walking down the corridor towards them. Then there was the unmistakable sound of voices - it was two teachers talking, Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall. Autumn grabbed Will's wrist and pulled him back into the secret passage, closing the door behind them. Will's heart was pounding as he stood there in the dark with her. It was still only his first day at Hogwarts, and already he was getting into trouble - sneaking around with a girl, nearly getting caught by teachers. Outside the passage the sound of footsteps drew nearer, and Will was able to make out what they were saying.  
  
"Well of course it was investigated," came the sound of Professor McGonagall's voice, "Dumbledore and I looked into it personally, but we were able to find no evidence of any wrongdoing."  
  
"And the boy?" Snape said coldly.  
  
"Dumbledore was suspicious of him, he can be placed in the area at the time, but there was no proof. He's still here, under close watch of course."  
  
"Come on!" Autumn hissed at Will, beginning to pull him along the secret passage and away from the voices. Will followed reluctantly, eager to find out what Snape and McGonagall were talking about, but their voices had already faded, muffled by the walls of the passage. They hurried into the Ravenclaw common room, Autumn calling out the password as they got to the portrait hole, "Terracotta." They collapsed onto one of the many sofas in the deserted common room, breathing deeply. "Okay, that's better," Autumn said eventually. "This wasn't happening the way I planned it. I hadn't planned to have teachers in our way," she added, laughing a little.  
  
"It's ok," Will replied, smiling, "it was kinda exhilarating to almost get caught anyway." He looked around the room they were in for the first time. "Hey, isn't this the Ravenclaw common room? Am I even allowed in here since I'm a Gryffindor?"  
  
"It's alright, don't worry," Autumn answered him. "This is a safe common room - the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs are allowed in here, but the Slytherins have to stay out."  
  
"It's getting kinda late" said Will, feeling as if he'd had quite enough excitement for one night. "I should probably head back to Gryffindor now." He got up to leave.  
  
"Okay, see you tomorrow Will," Autumn replied, smiling warmly at him.  
  
"See you tomorrow Autumn. I had fun tonight - thanks for showing me around." He smiled at her in return.  
  
"Anytime Will, goodnight." Autumn got up and headed up the staircase towards her dormitory, Will exited through the portrait hole and began to make his way back to Gryffindor, listening out closely for the sound of any other teachers on the prowl. He sneaked through the castle without seeing anyone else on the way, and crept back into his own dorm. 


	3. Close Encounters

Several days had passed, and Will and Autumn's friendship had quickly blossomed. They just seemed to get on so well together. It meant a lot to Will to have made a good friend at Hogwarts so soon, because it gave him someone to help him get acquainted to the place, to get used to the school and its system. One thing which he still couldn't do though was reliably find his way around, despite Autumn's tour, and it seemed that he got lost almost every time he tried to find a class, inevitably ending up late, and getting on the wrong side of more teachers than he'd hoped to in his first week. On Thursday morning Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were together for double Potions, and Will as always was lost. As he hurried through the corridors of the school he attempted in vain to find the secret passage that Autumn had showed him, but everything had looked different in the dark. Will didn't even want to imagine what Snape would do to him if he was late, given Snape's hatred of all things Gryffindor.  
  
Meanwhile, Autumn sat in the Potions class and worried. She had taken a seat by the door, and every few seconds she poked her head out into the corridor to try and catch sight of Will. 5 minutes before the lesson was due to start, and there being as of yet no sign of Snape, Autumn decided to go and find Will. She jumped up from her desk and quickly hurried down the corridor, in the general direction of Gryffindor tower, although, she reminded herself, Will could be anywhere in the school by now. She called out to him as she ran, "Will! Where are you? Can you hear me?"  
  
Will heard Autumn calling to him. He rounded a corner and saw her running towards him. "Hey Autumn, over here!" he called back to her.  
  
"What are you doing, we're gonna be late! C'mon," she said as she grabbed his wrist and started pulling him back in the direction of the Potions classroom, praying that Snape hadn't arrived yet. They hurried along several corridors before they emerged in the Potions corridor, ducking quickly into the classroom. Snape was standing at the front of the room, writing on the blackboard. He began to turn around as they entered, so Autumn quickly sat down at the back of the class, dragging Will into the seat next to her, and pulling out a piece of parchment. Snape eyed them suspiciously, but said nothing, returning to the blackboard and beginning to talk about the applications of certain aquatic plants in potion making. Will looked across to Autumn and grinned, she grinned in return, laughing a little at how close they had been to getting caught.  
  
But their mirth at pulling the wool over Snape's eyes was short-lived. After the class was over Will and Autumn were just preparing to leave when Snape stood in the doorway, blocking their way. His eyes glinted evilly as he smirked at them. "Don't think I didn't see you two sneaking in late. 5 points each from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, and be grateful that it isn't more. You both have detention, report to Mr Filch at 10.00 tonight." Snape smiled maliciously at them. "Now get out of my classroom before I take even more points from you," he said in a voice of pure malevolence. Autumn and Will looked at each other, both agreeing that there was no point arguing with Snape in this mood. They quickly grabbed their bags and hurried out of the room, eager to put as much distance between them and Potions as possible.  
  
Will looked slightly downcast, but Autumn chuckled as they began to make their way towards Transfiguration. "I don't care what he says, it was worth it. Besides, Snape's a jerkoff..." she said.  
  
"Yeah he sure is," Will replied in a subdued voice. "Look I'm sorry I got you into trouble Autumn. It was my fault that you were late for class."  
  
"It's alright, don't worry about it," she said brightly, "I've always gotten into trouble before, but it's always more fun with two, you make getting into trouble so much better for me," she added, laughing.  
  
Will smiled, pleased that she wasn't angry at him for getting lost again. "We still have some time till our next class," he said hopefully, "do you wanna take a walk?"  
  
Autumn smiled at him in return. "Sure, that sounds like fun." They began to wander the corridors, still heading in the general direction of Transfiguration, but taking a rather more circuitous route than before. "So how do you like Hogwarts so far?" Autumn asked, "apart from getting detention of course..."  
  
Will laughed a little. "Well my first class today may not have gone so well, but I have high hopes for the second. If I'm lucky I might even avoid getting another detention."  
  
Autumn laughed at this. "What is your next class? She asked.  
  
"I have Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall" Will replied, checking his timetable.  
  
"Me too! I can show you where it is then, you know, in case you forget again," Autumn joked. Now it was Will's turn to laugh. They continued along the corridor, not in any hurry to get to class, since they still had some time to spare. "Maybe detention won't be so bad after all" said Autumn thoughtfully, "I mean, I'll be with someone I like..."  
  
Will smiled even more broadly at this. "Yeah that's true," he said, "it'll be good to be with someone I like, even for detention. Do you have any idea what we'll have to do?"  
  
"I dunno," Autumn replied, "but whatever we have to do, detention shouldn't be painful, we should make it fun."  
  
"How could we do that?" Will asked curiously.  
  
Autumn smiled playfully at him. "How do you wanna make it fun?"  
  
"Well I dunno," Will replied flirtatiously, "I'm sure we'll think of something..."  
  
"I bet we will..."  
  
By now they had reached the Transfiguration corridor, but they were still early, there was no one else there yet. They walked into the empty classroom, looking around as they entered.  
  
"Okay, are we really early or really late?" Autumn asked jokingly.  
  
"I think we're early," Will replied, "the rest of the class should be here in a few minutes I guess."  
  
Autumn moved a little closer to him, smiling cheekily. "What should we do for a few minutes then?"  
  
Will moved so that he was standing right up next to her. "Did you have something in mind," he asked sweetly, leaning in towards her. Autumn leaned towards him too, looking deeply into his eyes. Their lips moved together and they locked into a passionate kiss, Will putting his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him, Autumn moved her hands to his neck and gently cradled his head, locked in his embrace. They continued to kiss passionately, neither of them wanting this magical moment to end, but suddenly they heard footsteps coming down the corridor outside. Abruptly they broke apart, with little chance to savour the moment before the other members of the class came bursting through the door. Quickly they sat down at adjacent desks, pulling out parchment and books in preparation for the class. Will looked over to her and smiled, Autumn smiled back at him. Before they had a chance to say anything though Professor McGonagall entered the room and the class began.  
  
Will barely heard a single word of what Professor McGonagall was saying, his mind was awash with thoughts about Autumn. He seemed to have this incredible feeling whenever he was with her, like nothing he had ever felt before. After the class ended he headed into the corridor and looked round to see where she was, his heart pounding at the prospect of being with her again. She smiled at him, and he walked over to her. "Look Autumn I..." he began, but his voice trailed off, and he looked away.  
  
"What Will? It's ok, you can tell me."  
  
But Will had lost his nerve. "It's nothing," he said, "Look, I have to go back to Gryffindor now, I'll see you in detention later." He turned and began to hurry down the corridor in the direction of the Gryffindor common room.  
  
"Bye..." Autumn called after him, a little perplexed by his sudden departure. One thing was for sure though, this was one Transfiguration lesson that neither of then would ever forget. 


	4. Detention With Filch

At 10.00 that evening Will slowly walked through the corridors of Hogwarts towards Filch's office, ready to do his detention with Autumn. Arriving a few minutes early, he knocked on Filch's door but there was no answer, so he waited quietly outside. Before long he saw Autumn rounding the corner into the corridor.

"Hey Autumn," he said as she approached, "Filch isn't here yet – I guess we have a few minutes until our detention starts."

"Hey Will, so you mean we're early... again..." she laughed a little.

"Yeah, I know – it's getting to be a habit," Will observed. "Better than being late."

"Yeah, I guess..." Autumn said, slightly awkwardly.

At that point they heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps approaching, and sure enough, Filch rounded the corner, his cat Mrs Norris right behind him.

"Alright you two, let's be getting started," Filch said, unlocking the door to his office. "Lots of work to do," he added, opening the door and smiling malevolently at them. He grabbed another set of keys and a bottle of magical mess remover and then closed the door again.

"Follow me, the two of you are going to be cleaning trophies in the trophy room." He led them around a few corners to another door which he proceeded to unlock before ushering them inside.

"Trophies are there," he said, indicating a series of mahogany cabinets against on of the walls, "cleaning stuff is there," he gestured towards the corner of the room. "Oh, you'll also be needing this..." he thrust the bottle of magical mess remover into Will's hands. Will and Autumn exchanged glances but said nothing.

"Just be grateful I'm not making you use elbow grease," he said unpleasantly, and Mrs Norris mewed impatiently. "I'll be back to check on you in an hour. You're both staying here until they're all clean, so scrub hard now." He grinned evilly again. "Come along my sweet..."

Autumn and Will watched Filch and Mrs Norris leave the trophy room, before turning their attention to the many trophies that lined the walls.

"This is stupid," Will said, grabbing a rag and getting to work on the nearest trophy. "Look how many there are – we'll be here for hours."

"There's two hundred and ninety four" Autumn said absentmindedly, beginning to polish two trophies at once.

Will stared at he incredulously. "You counted?"

"What? Oh, well yeah, but not just now – this isn't my first time in detention you know" she said, grinning.

They scrubbed silently for a while, before Autumn finally broke the silence.

"Will, what were you going to tell me back in Transfiguration?" she asked, looking up at him.

Will stared at her nervously. "I just wanted to say that, well, I like you Autumn, I really like you a lot. And I'm not sorry about what happened in the classroom, it was just a bit unexpected that's all."

Autumn smiled. "Well I'm not sorry either, because I like you too Will."

Will returned her smile and continued scrubbing again, not knowing what else to say. They both worked hard at cleaning, and after another two hours they had finished with the trophies and Filch mercifully let them go. Though it very late they hung around for a while, neither of them eager to return to their dormitories just yet.

"Come on, I have an idea!" Autumn said suddenly, and she set off down the corridor in the direction of the grounds, Will trailing along behind her, struggling to keep up.

"Where are we going?" he asked as they reached the entrance hall, but suddenly he heard voices approaching. He grabbed Autumn and pulled her behind a statue, only just in time. The voices of Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall approached them.

"I understand that Severus has expressed an interest in the matter?" Dumbledore said coolly.

"Of course," Professor McGonagall's replied, "the boy was in his house after all. Personally I think he's already decided on Matthew's guilt, he may need... handling." She suggested.

"Indeed, I shall see to it myself."

"Does the brother suspect anything?"

"No, and in the interests of continued harmony it would be best if he never found out. Suspicion is a dangerous thing when there is no proof, it makes people even more desperate." Dumbledore paused for a moment, glancing thoughtfully at almost the exact point where Autumn and Will were hiding.

"What is it Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Probably nothing..." Dumbledore said wistfully, and they continued up the staircase towards Dumbledore's office.

"Damn, that was another close call..." Will said eventually, when he was sure that the two teachers were long gone. "Autumn, are you ok?"

Autumn's face had gone very pale. "Yeah... I'm fine..." she said. After a moment she seemed to regain her composure. "Come on, before we get caught" she said, racing towards the front entrance to the castle and out into the grounds.

"Where are we going now?" Will asked her, following her through the grounds.

She started to run and again Will struggled to keep up, following her all the way to the edge of the forbidden forest. "Are you going to tell me what we're doing out here?" he asked, trying to catch his breath.

"Scared Will?" she asked, grinning, then she turned and stepped into the forest.


End file.
